Chennai were perhaps the most disappointed at being disbanded ahead of this auction, and understandably so. They had reached two IPL finals (they won one), a third semi-final, and were also champions of the Champions League. And so they attempted to keep the core of their unit intact, first by retaining four players – three of whom are Indian batsmen who would have been highly sought-after at the auction – and then by buying back as many of their players as they could. They managed seven. Chennai are unlikely to ever be short of bowling options because, in addition to the eight specialists, they have three allrounders in their squad. A rather well-balanced side in terms of skills and the Indian-foreign break-up.

At first glance, Deccan appear light on Indian talent, especially Indian batting talent, but they have enough money left over from the auction to snap up domestic players. They are thin in the multi-skilled department as well, with surprise purchase Dan Christian being their only allrounder. They also have only one wicketkeeper at present, Kumar Sangakkara, who is likely to lead the team as well. They, however, have a rich batting line-up that includes Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White and JP Duminy, and also little-known Chris Lynn.

The man raising Delhi’s paddle at the auction was the fastest among all the franchises and he spent quite a bit of money, especially on Irfan Pathan, who bats and bowls but hasn’t been a match-winner at either skill for some time. Delhi have several allrounders in their squad but they lack a top-class Indian batsman, apart from Virender Sehwag. They also have only one spinner in their roster of 17 players – Roelof van der Merwe. The batting line-up, however, is solid, and in Sehwag and David Warner, they perhaps have the most explosive opening combination of the IPL. They bought back only four players of their old squad and bid aggressively against Deccan Chargers for a lot of players.

While the other franchises spent and shopped over two days in Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab were sparing with their purchases and bought only 11 players. They have a little over $2 million to fill their squad with uncapped domestic players. The challenge is to pick up several high-quality ones to fill the gaps in their team. And there are many. They have only two specialist batsmen and their two allrounders are nothing to write home about. They also possess only one spinner at present. Their strengths lie in their fast bowling and their wicketkeeping reserves – Adam Gilchrist and Dinesh Karthik. Curiously, Punjab bid over a million for four other players but were never ready to go the distance to buy them, even though their purse was heavy.

Kochi have ten players capable of bowling four-over spells in a Twenty20 – four allrounders and six specialists – but their batting is thin, especially in terms of home talent. Their two Indian batsmen – VVS Laxman and Parthiv Patel – aren’t deadly in the shortest format and at the moment the bulk of the runs will have to come from the foreign players. If that dependency doesn’t change, it will hamper Kochi’s chances of fielding the overseas bowlers and allrounders they have bid for. They were the first team to fill up their overseas slots.

Kolkatta Knight Riders

No of players bought: 12 (5 Indian, 7 overseas)Money spent: $8.57mBig-ticket signing: Gautam Gambhir ($2.4m) and Yusuf Pathan ($2.1m)Bargain buy: Brad Haddin ($325,000) and Shakib Al Hasan ($425,000)Eyebrow-raiser: Manoj Tiwary ($475,000). Kolkata hadn’t chased any of the players they previously had in their squad over the past three years, but towards the end of the first day they decided to go after Tiwary.One that got away: With two major buys in the first hour, Kolkata didn’t have the money to raise the stakes high on too many other players.

Splashing the cash early meant they had a strong Indian batting core to rely on in Gautam Gambhir – their likely captain – and Yusuf Pathan. And, in a tournament where the strength of the Indian players determines team fortunes, they already have five players who should start most matches. They also supplemented that with three value-for-money foreign allrounders – Jacques Kallis, Shakib Al Hasan and Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate. One of their major drawbacks in previous seasons was the lack of a potent bowling attack, a weakness that persists with the current squad. They have Brett Lee, in his prime one of the finest limited-overs bowlers, but after being repeatedly ravaged by injury, it remains to be seen whether he retains the magic of old.

When they walked into the auction, their squad already boasted the biggest name in the game, the most exciting player in the format, and the deadliest bowler in Twenty20s. They added another marquee IPL name in Rohit Sharma, besides picking up some cut-price internationals like Clint McKay, whose slower balls mystify most batsmen, and South African Davy Jacobs, a lethal hitter who can double up as a wicketkeeper. The pedigree of their squad is unimpeachable, but Tendulkar has long stressed the importance of team spirit for success – how the squad containing Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh gels will be fascinating to see.

The new franchise wanted a headliner to connect the franchise with fans, and got one early in Yuvraj Singh. Then they splurged on a finisher in Robin Uthappa, and also got two Indian bowlers who have proven themselves in the IPL – Ashish Nehra and Murali Kartik. Their overseas signings, though, lack the X-factor that most foreign recruits are expected to bring to the side. They have two exciting allrounders in Angelo Mathews and Jesse Ryder, but the fast bowling looks dodgy with both Jerome Taylor and Wayne Parnell having had long-term injuries.

Like after the first auction in 2008, Rajasthan look the weakest of the squads. For a franchise that started out with $2m less than the others due to legal complications, the decision to retain Shane Warne at an exorbitant $1.8m was a puzzle. To top that, they purchased another foreign spinner, Johan Botha, at a princely $950,000 – the most bizarre buy of the weekend. They now have only two Indian players – Rahul Dravid and Pankaj Singh, and no wicketkeepers yet, unless they plan to make Dravid keep. Expect them to pull out more wildcards like Swapnil Asnodkar and Kamran Khan to get by. And they’ll pray there’s no Australian tour during the IPL – if Shane Watson and Shaun Tait are away, this squad will be in tatters.

This was another franchise which bet big on young Indian batting talent, and it reflected in their decision to retain Kohli and to aggressively pursue Saurabh Tiwary and Cheteshwar Pujara. In each of the first three seasons, Delhi’s formidable squad made them pre-tournament favourites. Bangalore have now poached most of Delhi’s erstwhile overseas talent – explosive and experienced top-order batting pair of Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers, fast bowler Dirk Nannes and allrounder Daniel Vettori. It is a strong squad but the worries are the shortage of multi-skilled players and spinners. The owners would have also liked more local flavour in the outfit: the only Karnataka player they have currently is Abhimanyu Mithun. Expect them to go all out to secure Manish Pandey’s services.